TACOMA — One giant toppled, possibly one more to come for the O’Dea boys basketball team?
The Irish are proving to be ready for any challenge regardless of the seed they face. The way coach Jason Kerr’s program is built, there is no fear.
Mason Williams and Miles Clark provided 14 points apiece and fifth-seeded O’Dea turned up the defense and vanquished the No. 1 seed Mount Spokane 57-52 on Friday night in the Class 3A boys state tournament semifinals at the Tacoma Dome.
The Wildcats cut into what had been a nine-point deficit and clawed within 51-50 on a Ryan Lafferty baseline fadeaway from 16 feet with 3:12 left in the game, but O’Dea sank 6 of 6 free throws in the final 2:51 to seal the win.
“This was definitely O’Dea pride,” said Williams, a senior, whose team trailed early in the second quarter by 10 points. “Our team always comes together and we trust each other. When you trust each other, you can do whatever you want.
“We just locked down on defense tonight, just like always. From the beginning of the year, we were getting coached hard and that just built us for moments like this.”
O’Dea (21-8) gets a championship-game date against the Auburn-Garfield winner on Saturday at 5 p.m. It will be the 12th appearance in a championship game as the Irish seek the school’s seventh state title.
That could mean a fourth meeting with second-seeded and Metro League rival Garfield, who has beaten O’Dea three times this season.
“Mount Spokane, they were No. 1, so it makes it look good, but it’s just a regular opponent out there,” Williams said. “I’m ready to play whoever it is [in Saturday’s final]. It’s going to be fun for sure.”
Mount Spokane (24-2) plays the Auburn-Garfield loser for third place on Saturday at 1 p.m. Lafferty, a junior guard, led the Wildcats with 26 points on 7-of-18 shooting and Maverick Sanders added 18 points on 8-of-19 shooting.
“We were just trying to make it tough twos instead of threes,” Williams said.
It was the second season in a row the Wildcats suffered a tough state-semifinal loss after falling 53-50 loss to Rainier Beach in 2022.
“First of all, they deserve that ranking,” O’Dea coach Jason Kerr said. “But I don’t think it’s something we really focus on, because by the time you to get to Friday’s games, you are running into somebody that is extremely well-coached, a very talented team and anything can happen when you’re at the state tournament.”
After trailing by 10 points midway through the second quarter, the Irish turned things around at both ends of the court, starting with their with defense. O’Dea finished the first half on a 12-2 run and the teams were tied at 30 at halftime.
The run extended into the third quarter and became a 16-2 burst to give O’Dea a 34-28 lead with 7:20 to go in the third.
Miles Clark led the Irish with 10 points at the break, sinking 5 of 7 field goals.
Lafferty powered Mount Spokane to a 22-14 lead after one quarter, scoring 11 of his team’s first 15 points. Sanders, an agile 6-foot-6 forward, got hot, scoring six points in a short span as the Wildcats hiked their lead to 24-14 early in the second quarter.
Sanders made a couple of lean-in fadeaway jumpers during his hot streak. Lafferty finished the first half with 13 points and Sanders 10.